To pray with a praying mantis

To pray with a praying mantis

Folded forearms is how you got your name ‘praying mantis’.

We meet eyes.

I know you are looking at me when I look at you.

I see you look at all the young eyes in awe of you.

Your kind are found worldwide, just like our kind.

And here we are, on this day, in this place, sharing a Life-moment ~where Life stares at Life and it seems we feel more alive.

For a moment the boundaries fall away.

Maybe our gigantuous presence stuns you? Or maybe you feel more alive in the company of us all the same?

It is as if we are sharing a moment of quiet prayer as we stare. A quiet ancestral yearning to let in the more-than-human-world again.

I realise- to re-member Life is the prayer.

Thank you for reminding me how to pray 🙏

Photo and inspiration from teaching a weekly Garden class as part of the Living School Onland Program in Lennox Head, NSW, Australia.